"An' hit's a cookin' an' a scrubbin' an' a mendin' fer him, an'-- an'-- sometimes hit's a splittin' wood, an' a doin' chores, too; an' I reckon that's all." Just here the knot came undone, and the shoe dropped to the floor with a thud.

Sammy sat upright.

"No, it ain't, Mandy; it's a heap more'n that; it's a nursin' babies, and a takin' care of 'em 'till they're growed up, and then when they're big enough to take care o' themselves, and you're old and in the way, like Grandma Bowles, it's a lookin' back over it all, and bein' glad you done married the man you did.

It's a heap more'n livin' with a man, Mandy; it's a doin' all that, without ever once wishin' he was somebody else." This was too much for Mandy; she blushed and giggled, then remarked, as she gazed admiringly at her friend, "You'll look mighty fine, Sammy, when you get fixed up with all them pretties you'll have when you an' Ollie git married.

I wish my hair was bright an' shiny like yourn.